Beauty Sparrow by Kelike Castillo

I'm hosting a pop-up starting today! From now through Dec. 10th select the Best.BlackFriday.Ever Pop-up for a chance to win something fun from me. The Pop-up is live and so is the sale! Shop with me at Beautysparrow.com/Buy

The other day I had this strong desire to go shopping. I didn’t know where it came from and so I talked to God about it. In response He told me that I already had plenty of resources that I wasn’t using. “You have books you haven’t finished reading,” He said.
And then I started thinking about all the resources surrounding me. Things like sunshine, flowers, fresh air and books. Simple pleasures that cost me nothing came to mind. And I started to do the small things, thanking God for floss, hot showers and hairbrushes—the little things I hadn’t given much thought to. I embraced my children a little longer and felt the peace that comes from being loved. And I found that contentment had replaced the desire to shop.

The kids and I have started going on walks throughout the city. On one of our walks we found this butterfly. 😍In addition to being very good for my emotional well-being, we’ve discovered some new places in this special city that has become our home. The other day we found a health food store with the most delicious chocolate-covered cashews. They were wonderful. We liked it so much that we took RK there when he got back from his trip. I think the lady was surprised to see us back so soon. 🤨😜She ended up giving me a tea to try after she saw me eyeing it. 😊We will definitely be going back.

I’m celebrating the rare completely crossed off list! 🤗 Every day I write 1-2 things to do to get me closer to my dreams in the 10 areas of my life. Each area has a color. I cross off the task according to the category color. If everything gets done it looks like this. 🥳 May there be even more rainbows in my future. 😊🌈

Beautycounter is having their big sale of the year. Want to know how to get 50% off?

Here's what I discovered:
Everything is 20% off! (That's 5% better than last year!)
+What's more you can get 30% off if you get a few more things.
+And Band of Beauty members get an additional 10% back in credit.
+And if that wasn't enough, Top Cash back is offering an additional 10.5% cash back on Beautycounter.

That's like getting 50% off Beautycounter!!!
So go here to get your Clean Beauty Deal: https://www.beautysparrow.com/buy

PM to learn how to use TopCashBack for Beautycounter and get some money back from your purchases.

Congratulations, Marissa! You’re the winner of a free Beautycounter product!
Didn’t win? Host a Beautycounter Pop-up and get yourself some free stuff, too.

Want a Better Than Black Friday discount on your Beautycounter?
Let me know below and I'll send you the link to for this once a year sale 👇

A little story for you:

I once went shopping for 14 hours straight. Partially because I love deals and because I love the company. Armed with my Christmas shopping spreadsheet and a strong cup of coffee, my mom, sisters (and nieces, aunties) would head out for a night of Black Friday shopping. One of my nephews even joined in on the fun once.

My spreadsheet even included the times when cyber deals would go live.

It was fun but exhausting. I shopped til I dropped--literally!

But guess what? Right now you can get a better deal than you could on Black Friday. You don't need a spreadsheet and you don't need to stay up all night.

Beautycounter's Friends & Family sale ends May 24 and it's better than ever!

Seriously, Beautycounter's Black Friday deal last year was so underwhelming, I didn't even want to talk about it.

But this deal is worth sharing.

If you want to get this discount let me know!

I had been so tired and grumpy that when my son angrily yelled, "Maybe I just won't celebrate Mother's Day with you tomorrow!" I yelled back, "Fine! I don't care!"

Yes, I was acting like my 7-year-old. 😬 Not my finest hour. 😅

But I apologized...eventually. 😜 We kissed and made up and I got the sleep I so desperately needed.

The next day I woke up to some sweet surprises. They had made me a tea party with all their stuffed animals and brunch on our patio with mbeju, bacon and eggs. They took turns saying the things they love about me.

Bubs said he loved that I'm beautiful and that I created him from my v-gina. We all had a good laugh. 🤣

Kalena made her delicious chocolate chip cookies and we filled them with Doña Angela gelato. It was a gloriously messy treat. Kinda like motherhood. 🥰

I was 13 when my dad died. It was a defining moment in my life. And just like any teenager, I decided that his death meant certain things. It meant that God didn’t care about me. I lived with that belief for a long time.
That all changed when I met RK. I asked him why God took my dad. Why would a good God do something so cruel? That’s when RK told me words that changed my life. Death is an enemy of God. God never took my dad from me. I understood. I could see death in my dad’s life long before he died, death when his parents divorced, death when his first marriage failed, and death when he smoked and drank to cope. I could see the truth and I made peace with God.

28 years later, at Fornalha worship school in Brazil, that same God who I thought couldn’t care less about me came and found me again. The worship was in Portuguese but it was heaven on earth. All of a sudden the worship leader started singing in English. It was a song I knew very well. We sang it around my dad’s death bed. And just like that I was back in that hospital room. Only this time things were different.

At 13, I thought I knew what God was like and assumed a lot of things. I bargained and begged for my dad’s life. And when I didn’t get what I wanted I walked away. But God never stopped loving me. He loves me so much he had a Brazilian worship leader sing a song in English that spoke straight to me personally. I cried, noting that the pain was different now. It had lost its sting. And I marveled at how different my relationship with God is now.

And now, as I’m faced with the fears that come with RK’s health issues, it’s hard to trust that everything will work out. Some days I feel such despair over the whole situation. The fact that my dad didn’t get healed nags at me. Thoughts of a future without RK threaten my sanity.

Recently, I heard someone say that facts are not the same as truth. I needed to hear that. The truth is that by His stripes we are healed. And despite my current situation, I am certain that God has never for one second stopped loving me. I sense Him rooting for me. Death is still an enemy of God and I am still his daughter.